Chernobyl workers set to close plant, reluctantly

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Chernobyl workers set to close plant, reluctantly

CHERNOBYL, Ukraine, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Shift master Viktor Kuchinsky 
pointed at a large white button on a huge control panel. In a month's 
time, on December 15, a worker will press it, and shut down the 
infamous Chernobyl power station for good. 

"This button will be pressed to stop Chernobyl," he said, wearing 
protective clothing to shield him from radiation in a control room 
where the button, too, was shrouded by a plastic cover. 

Kuchinsky and other workers regret the closure and fear losing jobs 
in a remote area with few alternatives. They say closing the plant is 
unecesssary and a waste of resources in a poor country that can ill 
afford it. 

"The decision to close the station is purely political, and our 
workers are sidelined to suit Ukraine's momentary interests," said 
Alexei Lych, Chernobyl's trade union boss. 

But the West knows Chernobyl as the site of the world's worst 
peacetime nuclear accident, when the number four reactor exploded in 
1986, spewing clouds of radioactive dust across Europe. 

Officially, 31 people were killed, mostly firemen who died 
immediately after the explosion. Independent experts say several 
thousand "liquidators" -- emergency workers -- and local residents 
died of diseases caused by radioactivity, thousands more suffer from 
various forms of cancer and blood disease. 

In addition, hundreds of thousands of people in Ukraine and 
neighbouring Russia and Belarus had to abandon their homes in a vast 
exclusion zone around the plant. Pripyat, the once-bustling 50,000-
strong settlement of Chernobyl workers, was evacuated overnight and 
is now a ghost town encircled by barbed wire. 

Western financial aid is in the pipeline to help cushion the closure 
of the plant Europe wants dearly to forget. 

But speaking to reporters late on Thursday, Kuchinsky made clear he 
would not share the relief felt by those who see Chernobyl as a 
powerful symbol of the dangers of nuclear power. 

"I have devoted all my life to this work, and now they are making me 
terminate it," he said. 

"The plant is being stopped just as a gesture of good will. If 
Ukraine does not need specialists like me, I'll have to look for work 
somewhere else." 

Despair reigns at the plant located amid thick pine forests some 120 
km (75 miles) north of the Ukrainian capital Kiev. Reactor number two 
was shut down after a huge fire in 1991 -- reinforcing Western fears -
- while reactor number one was stopped in 1996 at the end of its 
usable lifespan. 

CLOSURE MAKES WORKERS GLUM 

Glum workers say they will close the station on the date agreed by 
President Leonid Kuchma earlier this year, even though they do not 
know what they will do for a living afterwards. Ukraine also will be 
hurt, since it depends on Chernobyl's last working reactor for around 
five percent of its electricity. 

The G7 group of leading industrial nations signed an agreement with 
Ukraine in 1995 to help shut the plant. 

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, charged by the 
wealthy nations with collecting funds for Chernobyl's closure, said 
on Thursday its board of directors would consider in early December 
granting Ukraine a loan of $215 million to complete two nuclear 
reactors to replace Chernobyl. 

But many in Ukraine argue that foreign aid is not enough. 

Oleh Holoskokov, aide to the station's director, said Ukraine would 
need at least $1.5 billion to decommission Chernobyl and ensure 
social benefits for workers and dependents. 

He said only $2-$3 million of the $634 million needed to fund social 
issues had been received. 

"Unfortunately, the situation will start getting worse after the 
closure," he said. 

"Our primary concern is the personnel. Some 10,000 workers now live 
well due to their employment at the station," he said. 

Holoskokov said the station was very efficient, and was working at a 
record 82.4 percent of its capacity. 

Valery Seida, head of Chernobyl's scientific laboratory, said the 
last working reactor, originally designed to run for 30 years, would 
have exhausted its safe lifespan only in 2011. 

Another official, who requested anonymity, said Ukraine had simply 
lost out in a power play with the West. 

"We have been outsmarted... There is no way back now," he said. 
"Ukraine can only bargain for aid or cry for compassion." 

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sandy Perle					Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100   				    	
Director, Technical				Extension 2306 				     	
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Service		Fax:(714) 668-3149 	                   		    
ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc.			E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net 				                           
ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue  		E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com          	          
Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Personal Website: http://sandyfl.nukeworker.net
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com

************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html